Saturday, June 30, 2001.
Hatless Baldman Index: 51(+3)
Inevitability Index:
38 (+0).
Congrats to Ryan
on your degree! ...He's got an adoreable child too.
SUGAR, SPICE, AND LOTS OF RICE
My sweet little nieces came over to visit today along with the rest of the in-laws. They are just too cute and too funny.
I've always been amazed at how quickly you could notice their different personalities, even at two years old, each one was very different.
Hanner, the older one (in blue, almost five), has already earned the title of Princess of Narcissus. She always has to be the center of attention, poses for / insists on camera pictures, likes looking at herself (like her aunt Amy), and can't seem to resist touching every water surface she can see.
The younger one (in red), Nada, is our Little Earth Monk. She tells it the way it is. Practical and maybe cynical (as if a four year old could be), the earth shakes when her tiny feet run. Plus she seems to like falling to the ground a lot.
Recent conversation ....
LITTLE PRINCESS (pouting) : "I want some more candy."
AMY : "There is no more candy, girl."
LITTLE PRINCESS : "But I want some more. Where's the candy, aunt Amy?"
AMY : "We ate it all, I told you."
LITTLE PRINCESS : "But I want some! Candy candy!"
LITTLE MONK (tilting her head in thought) : "But if there's no candy ... then there's no candy."
AMY : "That's right Nada!"
With such cutie pies pictures, I hardly see any benefit to adding words but I will, out of habit.
LITTLE MONK AND LITTLE PRINCESS VS. THE BIG WORLD
Here we are playing video games. THEY chose the fighting game, I did not. The Little Princess (blue) started to get the hang of it. I was really impressed. She seemed to like playing the "boys" more. That's a "faux" ... (The) LIGER! on the floor. ... The real LIGER! is very much afraid of these little girls even though they are quite gentle with him.
I think video games are good at their age because it develops better hand-eye coordination and reaction time, and teaches them direct cause-and-effect. As for the violence aspect, I would like them to get used to the concept that they can aggressively attack and defend for themselves if faced with a physical threat.
Research and reports to the contrary can be interesting (and easily skewed), but those ivory tower numbers mean nothing when a girl is faced with a man who wants more from her than she cares to give.
And Uncle Scott won't always be there to bash-the-badman-on-command :-(.
Slight tangent there.
Here they are after choosing the biggest ugliest characters in Soul Calibur. The Monk is so cute in this picture. True to form, she's not as easily distracted by glittery colorful illusions as her sister.
The games didn't last too long. Their devoutly religious and saintly mother came hinting concern about the violence in the games. I do respect and adore her gentle nature and she is their mother regardless, so we changed to Ms. Pac Man.
They got their fill of eating blinky dots after about thirty seconds.
Afterwards they commandeered my drawing desk and one drew out the alphabet for me, while the younger girl drew a bunch of V's or U's or hearts for me, I'm not sure.
Then they wanted to watch my K pop music videos.
I never stood a chance.
BIG NOSE
When we took them to the mall, The Princess whispered something Korean in my ear and kept grabbing my nose. Her mom laughed and translated, "She says your nose is really big."
Gotta love that almost-five year old honesty. She still likes me though.
BUTTERCUP VS. MALIBU BARBIE
That's Amy's Uncle Don on the right (not the nieces' father though). He's a good man. He's been sitting through unintelligible Korean conversations for over twenty years. His nose is way bigger than mine.
Amy bought them those motorized Powerpuff Girl sucker holders. We watched a Powerpuff cartoons on video as well.
I like Powerpuff Girl Buttercup (on the sucker things) the best. She's fearless, has wavy dark hair, and is more aerodynamic. She kicks much ass.
While we were at the mall, the girls wanted yet another blonde Barbie doll. But her mom said they had a dozen already, so no more.
I'd rather not have another little girl growing up thinking that she's only beautiful if she looks like a blonde blue-eyed busty tanned pre-skin cancer Malibu Barbie. Amy feels similarly but explained her experience growing up with Barbie dolls.
AMY : "When I grew up, I thought dolls only came with blonde hair. And then I thought people with blonde hair were like those dolls. You know, not real people. So I didn't really consider blonde hair to be more attractive. I considered it to be mean this person is a toy."
ME (bizarre look) : " ... that's pretty messed up. I don't feel comfortable with that either."
AMY : "I don't think that way anymore though."
ME (still disturbed) : "Let's just drop the subject."
That's why we bought the Buttercup sucker thingies.
NOT PRETTY
Back at the house, the girls jumped me while I was trying to upload their pictures from the digicam. The Little Princess got pretty good at opening and closing pictures by herself. She seemed to like Amy's butt shot a lot, laughing every time she opened it, multiple times. She had the same reaction when she opened some of my pics as well (?!?!).
Amy came by and asked The Little Monk if Amy's picture was pretty.
Little Monk answered in Korean, "It's pretty."
Then she asked her if my picture was pretty.
Little Monk shook her head and answered, "Not pretty."
She still likes me, anyway.
The picture below was taken while Little Monk wanted to play with my camera. Look at the focused determination in her little chip-Monk face.
"Hey you just said I was NOT PRETTY. Why should I give this camera to you?" I told her.
I ended up giving it to her anyways. I'm a bit of a pushover with them.
I tried getting some other things done but each time they'd come back with some new antic for Uncle Not Pretty Big Nose. Here, The Little Princess insisted I take a picture with her posing under her Hello Kitty umbrella.
Afterwards I managed to distract the girls by bringing ... The LIGER! out from one of his many camping spots and letting them pet his lazy feline belly. I always knew he was good for SOMETHING.
So that was my Saturday.
Got nothing done. Had water splashed on me multiple times. Got called Big Nose and Not Pretty. Got two kisses on the cheek and hugs and smiles all day long.
By the end of the day, Amy and I were exhausted. She said she had enough of the nieces for awhile. So I asked her,
"How can you want three kids of your own (as she always says), when you barely can handle two for one day?"
"Our kids won't be that wild," she said as she retreated to the bed room.
"Yes they will. I just know it."
I could get more than used to it, actually.
Neither of us wanted to fool around that night because we were too exhausted from having the kids over.
When we have our own, will I have to get used to that too?
I still laugh and smile when I think of our cute little nieces.